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14/12/2012

Business people : Puma's CEO to Step Down

The Administrative Board of Puma SE announced that, by mutual agreement,
Franz Koch will step down from his position as CEO of Puma and member
of the group executive committee of PPR SA, the main shareholder of Puma
SE, at the end of March 2013.

Koch joined in 2007 and became CEO in 2011, replacing long-time CEO Jochen Zeitz.

Puma's
statement also noted that former Zeitz’ resignation as administrative
board chairman as of Dec. 1, 2012 "marks the end of a chapter in the
history of Puma. The company is therefore entering a new phase in its
development and is changing its top management structure to take on
those challenges," the company said in a statement.

Koch will
remain CEO of Puma until the end of March, and work in close
collaboration with the new chairman of the administrative board,
Jean-François Palus, also PPR Group managing director, in order to
secure Puma’s on-going operational transformation and generate
profitable growth. Zeitz originally announced his exit in October and
was replaced as chairman by Palus, who was PPR SA's managing director.
PPR owns 82.4 percent of Puma.

Palus stated: “Together with
Jochen Zeitz, Franz Koch has been the driver of strategic key
initiatives and has strongly contributed to Puma’s development over the
past few years. I would like to warmly thank Franz for his efforts,
commitment and dedication to Puma, as well as his contribution to
evolving the organization and management team. Going forward with the
future CEO, who we aim to hire by spring 2013, we will pursue the
reorganization of the company, focus on product innovation and
marketing, and will continue to devote the necessary resources to the
development of the brand. We are now going to write a new chapter for
Puma and thanks to the commitment and enthusiasm of the teams I’ve been
meeting around the world, I am fully confident in our ability to realize
the huge potential of this iconic brand.”

Palus' promotion to chairman came on Oct. 23, a day before Puma announced it
expected earnings this year to be “significantly below” those of 2011 due largely to Europe’s financial
crisis. Puma announced several cost reduction initiatives at the time.

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